Belt and blank therefor



March 24, 1959 F. REBAJES BELT AND BLANK THEREFOR,

' 21 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June- 27', 1956' vF-"ICi. 2

' FIG.

' INVENTOR. FRANQLS REBAJES F. REBAJES BELT AND BLANK THEREFOR March 24,1959 Filed June 27, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 8fi l b 7 6 MV Vkl MI \I 0 4m. 6 w; L 4 O a 5 5 qo O 4. 5 F m M 4 4 4 u ..r\), k 6 3 .D 4 I'll ll I|||L|| FIG. 7.

INVENTOR. FRANCIS REBAJES W44 United 'This invention relates to animprovement in a garment type body encircling belt and blank therefor.

It is an object of this invention to provide a garment type bodyencircling belt having improved features of comfort and appearance.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a body encircling beltparticularly of the ornamental type usually worn by women which conformsitself to the curves and contours of the body of the wearer in suchmanner as to provide a comfortable fit in the region of theback and hipsof the wearer and simultaneously present a highly ornamental appearance.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a belt ofcomparatively large transverse dimension or Width which, nevertheless,embodies the comfort and ornamental features referred to above.

Other and further objects, benefits and advantages of this inventionwill become apparent from the description thereof contained in theannexed drawings, spec'nications and claims or will otherwise becomeobvious. It will be understood thatthe invention herein disclosed may beemployed for other purposes for which the parts, structure andarrangement are adapted.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a belt in accordance with the presentinvention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view on an enlarged scale of the backportion of the blank from which the belt shown in Figure l is formed;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale of the portion ofthe belt shown in Figure 1 normally positioned at the back of thewearer;

Figure 4 is a view of the portion of the belt shown in Figure 3 as seenfrom the interior or reverse side thereof;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale of the back portionof the blank from which the belt shown in Figure 9 is formed;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale of the portion ofthe belt shown in Figure 9 normally positioned at the back of thewearer;

Figure 7 is a view of the portion of the belt shown in Figure 6 as seenfrom the interior or reverse side thereof;

Figure 8 is a cross-section of the fragment of the belt shown in Figure6 taken along line 88 thereof; and

Figure 9 is a perspective view of a modified form of belt in accordancewith the present invention.

It has often been found desirable in the manufacture and sale of belts,particularly belts of the type worn by women, to form the belt with acomparatively large transverse dimension. The wide type of belt hasoften been considered to be desirable from the point of view of styleand appearance. However, there are a number of fea tures in connectionwith the manufacture and use of a belt of this character which have beenfound undesirable. An undesirable feature of the wide type belt residesin the fact that since it is formed out of flat sheet material, the beltdoes not conform itself transversely to the natural contour of the bodyin the region of the hips and back.

I as for example, heavy gauge leather.

of discomfort to the wearer and often present an unsightly appearancedue to the inability of the belt material to conform itself in anyappreciable degree to the shape or contours of the figure to which it isapplied. As pointed out, belts of this character are most economicallymanufactured of flat sheet material. Finer type belts are manufacturedof leather. This material presents certain physical limitations inthat'it does not readily conform to the figure, particularly in the caseof thicker type leathers. is designed so as to comfortably conform tothe indicated contours of the body of thewearer in spite of the com-'paratively'large transverse dimension or width of the,

belt. cheaply and economically from fiat sheet material, such The beltshown in Figure 1 is formed of an elongated strip 10 of sheet material,preferably heavy gauge leather. The length of At the same time the beltmay be manufactured strip 10 is such as to comfortably encircle the bodyof the" intended wearer and may be in any number of sizes in accordancewith conventional belt manufacturing prac tices. The free ends 12 and 14of the elongated body encircling strip 10 meet in the abdominal regionor front of the wearer and said ends may be provided with a suitabledisengageable closure arrangement, such as a belt buckle not shown,which may be attached by means of suitable perforations 16 formed in theends of the belt or may be attached by other suitable means wellknown tothose skilled in the belt making art.

The construction of the portion of the belt which lies at the back ofthe wearer may be more readily understood by reference to Figure 2 whichwill illustrate the portion of the blank from which it is formed. Thus,as

may be seen from Figure 2, blank 10 is provided with a longitudinallyextending slit 18 which is so dimensioned as to extend across asubstantial portion of the back of the wearer. The longitudinallyextending slit 18 may be formed by merely severing the belt material ora thin slot may be formed by removing a narrow portion there of. Theterm slit is intended to denote both forms of severance. Thelongitudinally extending slit 18 is disposed generally parallel with andintermediate the side edges of the belt blank and divides the backportion of the belt into upper and lower sections 20 and 22respectively. These sections are each, of cours of lesser transversedimensions or width than the total width of the strip from which theyare formed. The formation of the longitudinally extending slit 18permits the two sections thus formed to be drawn over one another inoverlapped relation as shown in Figure 3. The two sections are securedto each other in such overlapped relation by any suitable means in themedial region of the back of the belt as by a rivet 24. In order tofacilitate this attachment perforations 26 may advantageously be provided in the blank from which the belt is formed so that when the twosections are overlapped the perforations are brought into registrationto permit the insertion of the rivet therethrough. It will of course beunderstood that other similar fastening means may be employed for theindicated purpose as is well known to those skilled in the art. Inoverlapping the two sections 20 and 22 of the strip, the overalltransverse dimensions or width of the belt is reduced in the centralportion of the back thereof corresponding to what is usually termed thesmall of the back of the wearer. Furthermore, by attaching theoverlapped sections in the central region, the transverse dimensibn ofthe belt is gradually reduced as it approaches the medial point ofattachment or rivet 24. By overlapping the two sections of the belt asindicated a degree of curvature is imparted to the cross-section of thebelt in this region so that when the belt is worn it Pat ented Mar. 24,1959,

The instant belt, as illustrated in Figure 1,

tends to follow and conform itself to the curvature encountered in thisregion of the body of the wearer. There is thus assured a morecomfortable fit while retaining the generally desirable ornamentalappearance of a wide type belt. Additionally, by forming thelongitudinal slit 18 with an appropriate curvature, highly desirableornamental features may be imparted to the belt. Thus, for example, thebelt shown in Figure 1 is provided with a slit which forms a downwardlyextending converging point. By varying this shape of the slit such as byslitting the material along an undulating or zig-zag line otherornamental designs may be readily achieved which form highly pleasingetfects.

A modified form of belt is illustrated in Figure 9. The belt illustratedin Figure 9 is advantageously formed from a blank, the back portion ofwhich is illustrated in fragmentary form in Figure 5. This belt issimilarly formed of an elongated strip of belt material 28 and may evenbe formed of a heavy gauge leather. The strip is adapted to encircle thebody of the wearer and may be similarly provided with disengageablemeans at the free ends 30 and 32 thereof, such as a belt buckle 51,which may be attached by means of perforations 34 or by any othersuitable means. As shown inFigure the blank is provided with alongitudinally extending slit 36 in the medial portion thereofcorresponding to the portion of the back of the belt and wearer. Saidslit 36 is disposed intermediate the side edges of the belt andgenerally parallel therewith. The longitudinal slit 36 thus divides theback of the belt into an upper and lower section 38 and 41";respectively. The upper section 38 is further completely slittransversely as shown at 42. The transverse slit 42 thus divides theupper section into two segments 44 and 46 having extremities 44a and 46aand being secured only along transverse lines 4412 and 46b adjacent theextremities of the longitudinally extending slit so that they may eachbe overlapped with the lower section as shown in Figures 6 and 7 andattached thereto by means of rivets 48 passed through perforations 50 asmay be clearly seen in Figure 8. This modified form of belt is readilyformed of heavy gauge and relatively stiff belt material and permits agreater degree of adjustment in the ultimate contour to be achieved bythe belt in this region since the spacing between the attachment pointscorresponding to the rivets 48 may he varied to thereby determine thedegree of transverse curvature to which the belt may be made to conform.Thus, the free ends of the upper segments may be actually brought intooverlapping relation in addition to being overlapped over the lowersection thus imparting a relatively marked progressive curvature of thecross-section of the belt in this region.

I have here shown and described preferred embodiments of my invention.it will be apparent, however, that this invention is not limited tothese embodiments and that many changes, additions and modifications canbe made in connection therewith without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as herein disclosed and hereinafter claimed.

I claim:

1. A blank for the formation of a body encircling belt, said blankcomprising an elongated strip of material, a longitudinally extendingslit formed in said strip of material, said slit being medially disposedbetween the ends of said strip and lying generally parallel with theside edges thereof, whereby the slit portion of said strip is dividedinto two sections, one of said sections being completely transverselyslit, whereby said one section is divided into two segments, each ofsaid segments being secured to the strip along a transverse lineadjacent an extremity of said longitudinally extending slit and securedin overlapping relation to said other section.

2. A body encircling belt comprising an elongated strip of materialhaving terminal ends and side edges. the terminal ends of said stripbeing adapted to be disengageably secured to each other at the front ofthe body of the wearer, an elongated slit formed in said strip mediallyof said free ends and extending longitudinally thereof in the regionwhich extends across the back of the body when said belt is worn, saidslit dividing the back portion of the belt into sections, one of saidsections being completely transversely slit thereby dividing said slitsection into two segments, said segments being secured to the stripalong a transverse line adjacent an extremity of said elongated slit andsecured to the other of said sections in overlapping relation withrespect thereto.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D.33,017 Steuerwald July 31, 1900 1,328,406 Van Alstyn Jan. 20, 19202,085,179 Badanes June 29, 1937 2,339,239 Carmichael Jan. 18. 1944FOREIGN PATENTS 18,214 Great Britain 1898 860,599 France Sept. 30, 1940

